Reflection

Andrew Tsai

It seems like yesterday when I first started teaching English to my students at Shiu-Lin Junior High School. I still remember the first day when we intimidated our students with our pre-test. Our goal for the pre-test was to split the students into three classes based on their English proficiency level.

          We met some students the Friday when we first arrived at the school. After talking with them for awhile, we found out that most of them had attended this summer camp last year and the volunteer teachers then had basically used all the material that were given during our training in Taoyuan. We thought their English level was a lot higher than what we were led to believe during our training.

Naturally, we prepared the pre-test based on their level, except that not every student was as good as the group we met on Friday. Most of the students could not answer any of the questions that we made. Our attempt at having one on one interview to measure their listening and speaking skills was a complete flop as well. The first day discouraged a lot of the students. The attendance on Tuesday was pathetic. The three classes that we formed based on the results of the pre-test were flawed as well, since the pre-test was not a proper measurement of their English proficiency level. The top class and the bottom class were ok, but the middle class, which was the one I’m teaching, had a big discrepancy among the students. There were students that should have been placed in the third class and students that should have been placed in the first class all mixed together.

          The first day of teaching was very challenging. We had no idea what the volunteer teachers had done the year before, so we avoided using any of the activities or games in the training manual. We made our teaching plan way too easy for our first day because of the result of the pre-test. We got the hang of it after a few days. Soon we were teaching our students to their level and interest. The students really liked sports, so we planed our last period to be sports hour. We also teach them songs and made a dating skit to teach them dating vocabulary.

          I really enjoyed this program. I think it’s a wonderful idea to let Taiwanese descendants to come to Taiwan and learn more about the culture and the people. This program also allows us to inspire the future leaders of Taiwan to learn English. English has become and necessary skill in this increasingly globalize world. By inspiring future generations of Taiwanese children to learn English, we’re plating seeds for a better economy of tomorrow.